Rebecca McKinnon in NYT: SOPA will strengthen the Great Firewall of China

James Losey from New American Foundation sez, "Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN Beijing Bureau Chief and now a researcher focusing on the intersection of the Internet, human rights, and foreign policy warns that the Stop Online Piracy Act introduces Chinese style censorship to the United States in a New York Times op-ed:"

China operates the world's most elaborate and opaque system of Internet censorship. But Congress, under pressure to take action against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would strengthen China's Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.

The legislation -- the Protect IP Act, which has been introduced in the Senate, and a House version known as the Stop Online Piracy Act -- have an impressive array of well-financed backers, including the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the Directors Guild of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Screen Actors Guild. The bills aim not to censor political or religious speech as China does, but to protect American intellectual property. Alarm at the infringement of creative works through the Internet is justifiable. The solutions offered by the legislation, however, threaten to inflict collateral damage on democratic discourse and dissent both at home and around the world."

10 Responses to “Rebecca McKinnon in NYT: SOPA will strengthen the Great Firewall of China”

New theory: Congress read a bunch cyberpunk novels & was like “oh man that was awesome, is it too late to have that happen? We can totally make some megacorps, & then like, all we need to do is make everybody into hackers! We can do this!”

…the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the Directors Guild of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Screen Actors Guild.

The Teamsters??? WTF???
The rest of the usual suspects I expected. But, the Teamsters???

Did it seem a little namby-pamby to anyone else? “potential chilling effect?” It’s fucking unamerican, for christ sakes. It’s a privatized judicial system without a shred of due process. How about a long list of wonderful things that could easily have been squelched by SOPA, from the Pentagon Papers to Rebecca Black.

“Mass protests pose a threat to cleanliness and public safety. They put brave police officers at risk and divert them from fighting crime. I have therefore directed the Committee for Public Internet Safety to take the planning sites off-line. This is the safest way to manage the threat while preserving the right to free speech. Individuals are free to talk face-to-face and to contact their elected representatives, but we cannot allow them to abuse the Internet. Nor do they have a right to the private property of others: Facebook, PayPal and the domain registration system have every right to choose whom they do business with. If copying a movie justifies taking down a web site, then attacking the economy of this great city by blocking streets surely does. If the protesters wish to organize online, they can apply for a permit to use the government free speech forum provided for that purpose.”

You don’t even have to know it’s pirated to watch something that is. Youtube already has some agreement with the music industry over music videos. Now what? Am I now suddenly privy to all the contractual agreements youtube has with contract providers? How am I supposed to know if what’s on sharing sites is legit?